Audio footage captures moment man killed wife in jealous rage

Court staff wept as audio footage capturing the moment a mother-of-two prayed
as she was stabbed to death by her husband in a jealous rage was played to a
murder trial jury.

Andrew Parsons with his wife Janee Photo: INS

By Melanie Hall, and agencies

7:00AM BST 15 May 2013

Relatives of 31-year-old beautician Janee Parsons fled from the public gallery at Oxford Crown Court as the recordings - captured on a secret dictation machine installed by Andrew Parsons to snoop on his wife - were played.

Some of the jurors sat with their hands over their mouths, while a member of court staff also began sobbing as the trial heard the attack unfold - including the desperate pleas of one the couple's sons, begging his father to stop.

The 38-year-old defendant, who denies murdering his wife, wiped tears from his eyes with the back of his arm as he was led from the dock during an adjournment.

The recording device, which Parsons fastened underneath his estranged partner's bed in the hope of discovering details about her private life including her new boyfriend, unwittingly captured the violent attack.

The small machine was discovered by relatives retrieving personal belongings days later.

Some minutes later, the tape is filled with the sound of thumping, followed by screams, after Parsons demanded his wife talk to him, the court heard.

Mrs Parsons, who is said to have been lying on the floor by this point, asks: ''Are you going to kill me?''

The court listened to footage of her screaming, panting for breath, yelling ''oh my God,'' and calling her husband's name.

Mrs Parsons mumbled a few lines of prayer, asking for her sins to be forgiven, before sounds of a dull wailing, grunts and coughing can be heard.

Prosecutors said Parsons soon left the scene to take his son to a neighbour's house before returning to dump his wife's body in the bathroom and calling the police.

The dictation device captured the 999 call, during which Parsons said he had ''hurt my wife real bad'', before emergency services turned up at his house.

The trial had previously heard how Parsons and his American wife would continue living at the family home in Lucerne Avenue together until after Christmas, so they would not leave their children with negative memories of the festive season.

But Parsons had become angry, the court heard, accusing his wife of lying to him about her private life when she told him later that she was seeing Mr Hansens.

The trial heard Parsons, who worked in the plumbing industry, say: ''If I was trying to find out if you were cheating on me, I would probably be investigative, but you're out in the open. I don't want to be hearing details.''

His wife replied: ''If you went away, I would miss you. But that doesn't mean I want to be married to you again.''

The violent argument began a few minutes later.

The court heard that Parsons' school friend and neighbour, Andrew Thompson, saw the defendant moments after the killing when he went to leave his son with him.

In a statement, Mr Thompson described how Parsons ''didn't look right'', and had been behaving differently in the days before it.

''He said something like 'Me and Janee are having some problems that we need to sort out'.

''I said I needed to leave by 12.30pm, but he said 'I'll be back before then'.''

Lee Harrison, who said he had been best friends with Mrs Parsons for the two years before her death, told the court that he became concerned that she was telling her husband too much about her new boyfriend.

"I vaguely remember an argument happening upstairs somewhere, she said he dragged her out of bed by her hair and tried to throw her out of the house," he said.

"I thought maybe she should refrain from telling him too much information and wait to see how things progressed with the guy to not upset the husband.

"I just said if you're not careful, she was telling me these things, and that I said you want to be careful - he'll probably end up killing you.

"She made a comment joking afterwards about exactly what would happen."